General Chat

Morning girls. A dry day for us but rathe dull & chilly.
from the windows I can see lot's of Daffies almost ready to bloom, hoping the wind doesn't get up & flatten them which is what usually happens.

The Snowdrips have been lovely, still flowering well & many of what were just clumps are now touching each other & making a nice white carpet.
My hubby loved Snowdrops as well & always looked forward to seeing them come up each year, sadly he didn't get to see them this year.

No plans for doing anything in particular today, just a general tidy round but to be honest the house doesn't need it.
Shopping day tomorrow which will get me out of the house for a wee while.

Joan.

Morning all.

Another lovely bright sunny day but still very breezy.

Names, that's a good idea for Joan re a knitting group maybe in the future? I know its still too soon just now but further down the line.

I'm staying put today and not venturing anywhere!

Hoping everyone well today and hope you have the sunshine.

Florence in the hebrides

Joan, unless you were going back to an old group it is probably too early for you to join something entirely new. But it might be worth looking to see if there is a craft or knit & sew group to join when you are ready.

Hello Linda, good to hear from you. Crikey, you really do have it all going on at once don't you.

Re your bed, when I bought a new bed, although it was firm but comfy, i decided to put the old duvet on top of the mattress and that made it very much more comfy and in the winter very warm.

Was busy this afternoon as home alone and cleaned all the window sils in my bedroom, bathroom etc. Was beg to see little bits of green along the seals but its all gone now. Stripped off my bed too so a job well done. Gutted out a few drawers too and found some bits for the charity shop.

Now ready to re start another family tree that hasn't been looked at for 2 years so plenty to keep me occupied for awhile.

Ann hope you got back safely and all went ok?

Coffee time now and then see what's on the tv.

I am glad that your grandson is on the mend Joan and that you have found someone to sort your problem out Florence. It makes such a difference when you get through to a sensible person.

I am still battling away on my list of address change, but am almost there. The renovations are continuing, the builder didn’t come until lunchtime today, but he plastered the main bedroom and en-suite ceilings this afternoon. They will be dry enough in a couple of days to move back into. We have been in one of the spare bedrooms for the last two nights. The first night was dreadful because the bed is rock hard and I couldn’t sleep. OH likes it, but I like my nice soft mattress Last night, I took our King size duvet and folded it to make three layers which I slept on. It was lovely and soft, so I had a good night.

Yesterday, we had someone come to give us a quote for new French doors to replace the very old sliding aluminium ones which have been in since the house was built. We also had the burglar alarm man because the patio doors have two sensors on them. One for if someone breaks the glass and one for if the doors are opened. The sensors will need taking off when eventually we get new doors, but more urgently the wires will be in the way of the new flooring. So we are going to have a wall sensor instead.

This weekend we need to go and have a buying binge for new light fittings. There is only one ceiling light in the house which will be used again, we need new ones everywhere else . I have seen some on line which I like and are quite reasonable. That particular company has an outlet shop on a shopping outlet park not too far from here, so we will go and look.

I need to chase up the kitchen designer tomorrow because he said it would take him a week to week and a half to do his design and that time is up tomorrow. We are spending a fortune on the house, but we knew that we would. The price we payed for it reflected the fact that it needed modernising.

Hi Florence, well that's good news for you, you must be very reileved.

I have done my letters, all done by hand, only 6 to do but sad ones to inform those concerned about my loss of Jack, difficult to do but had to be done as they wouldn't have seen the his death announcement in the newspapers.

There might well be some cluubs for the OAPs etc, but i'm not able to go to things like that, I don't live close enough to the town or the village..& I would have to ask daughter to take me there & back every time.
I am not one for socialising in that way, both Jack & I were never ones for that sort of thing, never went into pubs either, we were more that happy with just each others company.

My main hobby is my Crosstitching which gives me a lot of pleasure, I can & do knit but not as often as I used to when the children & grandchildren were babies/toddlers.
Just waiting for the weather to get warmer then I can spend some time in the garden, patiently waiting for our Swallows to return, even though it will sadden me to think Jack isn't going to see their return this year.

Joan.

Good morning all looking in.
Lovely sunny day but pretty chilly and very breezy. I was going take a short walk around to look at all my pots and get some fresh air but really it far too windy and I might fall over .

So I have a good result. I was given another number for emergencies and so decided to phone it. The lovely lady said she could help me and so she did.

Neither of the grants are repayable as both outside 10 years. she said the original conditions were recently changed so nothing is repayable, She will email me later today confirming this information and that she will inform the Land Registry to remove the charges against the property.

So relieved and how lucky was I to get such a helpful lady who not only knew what she was doing but dealt with my enquiry on the spot and didn't say she would look into it and tel me back. My faith in Customer services has been restored. :-D

So as soon as I get her email, I can them email sol together with the other info i had to get and hopefully this will get us another steep closer to completion.

Joan, so glad your grandson has gone home and hopefully will be back to full health very soon. I still write a few letters although not by hand. I type them on the computer as much quicker and then email one to Australia as no cost and quicker.
But it does pass the time.
Have you got any other hobbies other than your cross stitch? I have a friend whose granny crochets blankets for different care home where she lives. Friends donate balls of wool for her to use. The blankets are put to good use and the granny feels appreciated plus it keeps her busy in the evenings.

Are there any social groups nearby you could join for senior citizens like a lunch club once a week? Just a thought.

My geraniums are really growing so fast, I cant believe the growth speed. Is this normal? Also i trimmed off all the dead leaves off my Amaryllis but now, a green shoot is growing again but not sure if this means it will flower again before xmas. I had stopped watering it as thought like most bulbs, they are dormant until the next season? Anyway I have given it some water and shall see what happens.

Not sure what to do this afternoon as I have already vacuumed the whole house and swept floors, all the paperwork now completed too. Maybe go through some drawers in my bedroom as haven't done that in awhile!

Ann, hope your journey went smoothly and you got on ok today.

Shall look in later

Florence in the hebrides

Good morning, hope you get your reply phone calls today Florence.

Just to clarify. Today is a trip (by bus) to Cheltenham hospital to the medical photography department. there I will have a photo taken of the BCC on my nose. This will be sent eventually the the Dermatology consultant so they can see the size of the problem. the photo takes the place of what used to be a preliminary visit to Dermatology. I then will have to wait for the actual appointment to remove the BCC. I have had many of the blessed things removed before including one on my cheek (face). It is the injections that hurt as it is well numbed. But this time I am concerned by the position of the op more than the op itself.

Good moring to you all.
A bright dry day for us today so far but it is a bit windy so that's spoiling things & stopping me venturing outside.

Our grandson was sent home around tea-time yesterday, the swelling had reduced & the scan showed an "infected" Lymph node, they said it was quite common after having a cold, they weren't worried about it & said he AB he was sent home with should put things right.

I am going to write some letters today so that should help me pass some time, there's only so much cleaning etc that can be done each day.

Florence i do hope that you won't have any money to pay back, after all it was your mum that qualified for the grants, I can't say I like that clause, it's new one on me !!

I hope everyone is well, enjoy the day.

Joan.

Sorry to hear about your g/son Joan I hope he is home soon. Always something to worry about isn't there.

Hopefully you will get the answers soon Florence so the sale of the flat will go through with no problems. It does look like you won't have to pay the grant money back.
I did that soap overload once and the suds were everywhere . Not good at all .

All the best with your op tomorrow Ann. good to get these things sorted asap ..

Raining again here now but did manage to get my washing dry outside this morning.

Take care all

Ginnie.

I have relooked at the local council site and for the disability grant, it says repayable only if within 10 years. Both grants are now out with the 10 years so I don't understand it. But until I can get through to someone, I cant deal with it. No one has tel me back since I left a message!

EDF have tf to a new system and i couldn't log in to the electricity acc for the flat.
I eventually got through and explained and was told, we tf to a new system but are having problems! I will send you a link to change your password. Hmm still waiting for that too.

Bit of a non-productive day really and haven't managed to tick off all my things to do except pay the last instalment of the c tax for the year.

Joan so sorry to hear about your wee grandson. I was going to say it sounded like mumps? Here's hoping the AB will get to the bottom of the problem soon and he will recover and go home. Such a worry when they are young.

Sadly these forms do take ages to complete. They never make anyone's life easy at difficult times. I'm sure your daughter checked it thoroughly so hopefully will get sorted soon.

Sorry Ann, got the day wrong! I suspect under a local. Freeze the area and cut it out? I had a stye once that got infected and was like an aniseed ball under my eyelid. They flipped my eyelid, injected to freeze and removed it. All I can politely say is Ouch! But in 5 minutes, it was all sorted. So here's hoping your visit tomorrow goes well for you.

Daughter left another pile of washing grr, she's away until Wed.

On Sunday, she decided to wash her single fleece duvet. Before i knew it, there was soap suds coming out of the machine and spreading over the lino grrrr Used 4 towels to mop it up and stop soap from spreading out.
Just like before, she put too much liquid in the machine. The fleece duvet cover really absorbs the soap and creates so much you really only need a tiny amount.

Took 3 washes, 3 spins and a final rinse, spin & drain to get rid of the suds. To say, i was not a a happy bunny doesn't cut it and daughter got the sharp end of my tongue as this is now the 2nd time she let this happen.

Just as well she has gone away today, far away from the washing machine!

The time is moving so fast cant believe it neary 3.30 already.

Off to hang out some washing for the last time today :-D

It does seem as if it is outside of the repayment time Florence so you may be OK.

My hospital appointment is tomorrow. I don't thinkthere is any doubt about whether or not they can remove the BCC, If it is left there is the chance it could become malignant. It is how they will remove it that concerns me really.

Hello to everyone.
Florence what a worry for you, but, could it be that any repayment could mean within a certain time limit, though I don't know for certain I have never heard of anyone having to repay any home improvement grants !

Yes our house is in joint names & even without a will from hubby the various things have gone through quite quickly, but his private Royal Mail pension has not.
I received the claim forms today (it's like a book) & our daughter came over to look through them, we discovered from the letter with them that the claim can be done on-line but ONLY by filling in the paper forms first & then sending to the relevant people via an email !

My daughter arrived at 10-45 am & it took her until 1-45 pm to fill it all in & then submit everything, 3 hours ! unbelievable, & my hubby always told me it would be simple enough to make a claim should anything happen to him !
I am just hoping that the claim is in order & we haven't missed out anything, I'm not sure I could face further questions, I could never have managed to make the claim on my own !

Our youngest daughter (in Lanark) phoned me yesterday to tell me our grandson age 6yrs was in hospital, he had woken during the night with 1/2 of his face swollen & was admitted, the DR seemed to think he had an infected Lymph node & would need IV antibiotics & scan of his neck.

Eventually a Cannula was fitted & he had 1 dose of antibiotics, he was due the scan sometime today & it would depend on what it showed as to whether he would need another dose of AB.
Daughter stayed at the hospital last night & she might have to spend another night there, grandson seems well enough but for the swelling he is happy & eating !
Always something to have to deal with.

Another nice day here, dry & sunny but still a bit on the chilly side.

Joan.

That condition of your mum's grant sounds very unfair, Florence.

On a Google search, I see that if the property is sold within 10 years of the Coldbuster grant being given, then the owner (or landlord if the grant was to a tenant) does have to repay it.

"COLDBUSTER GRANTS
Currently there is a repayment condition attached to Coldbuster Grants given under the local scheme where the application is from an owner-occupier. The South West London Housing Sub Region attach a condition in respect of the Universal Coldbuster Scheme for South West London whereby if a grant is given to an owner-occupier or a private tenant and the property is sold within 10 years of the completion of the works, then the grant is repayable. In the case of a grant given to a private tenant on this Scheme the grant is repayable by the landlord and it is proposed that a similar condition should also apply in respect of applications from private tenants for new enquiries under the local Scheme."


But your mum got her Coldbuster grant in 2010, so that clause shouldn't apply - assuming that all councils have the same rules.

The same seems to apply to Disability Grants - though again, maybe different areas have different rules:

Do disabled facilities grants have to be repaid?
Not usually, but if you are a homeowner and you have a grant of more than £5,000 you may be asked to repay some of it if you move within 10 years. Check the conditions with your local authority.
https://www.foundations.uk.com/library/dfg-faq/


But I'm sure you've looked into all that!

Afternoon all

Sunny & bright day but quite cold in the wind, however it is dry and good for the washing. Yesterday, managed to get all the towels dry and they didn't blow away lol

So just when you think you are nearly there with selling your property, something else crops up to keep you back grrr

I was sent an email with loads of attachments from sol. A copy of the search shows when my dear mum got a disability grant to have the bath removed and a shower put in in 2013 and another grant to have new central heating put in through something called Coldbusters in 2010. These grants were given by local council.

So upon reading the search info, it says, if the property is sold, then the grants have to be repaid in full???? My mum was reg disabled and on pension credit. They checked her bank and at the time had less than 3K so she met the criteria.

At no time was she told that if she sold the flat, then both grants would have to be paid back. So now we shall have to pay them back around £8600.

I have tried to speak to someone today but all I got was a recorded message saying due to sickness and staff shortages, there is no one to take your call, please leave a message! So one more thing to keep us from completing but in anycase, its our problem not the buyers but they need written confirmation from the council they we will be repaying it on completion of sale.

Anyway shall try phoning again tomorrow and hopefully get it sorted.

Ann I hope you got on ok at the hospital. Are they able to remove the thing on your nose? Sounds very painful and in an awkward position too.

Joan, so glad you posted as was a bit worried, you might be unwell.

I hope your son managed to get through to the Royal Mail Pensions Dept today and get that sorted. You said there was no will so i'm guessing your house is in joint names? But now you need to consider making a will yourself so if anything happens to you, your estate can be dealt with more easily.

All these things take time, but as you said, you have dealt with most things now so nearly all sorted. You may now qualify for Pension Credit, just a thought to look into.

Hope your snow has gone. We def dont have any over this way and dont want any either.....Spring is here and winter has gone hopefully.

I finally finished my friends family tree and daughter took it today to post it for me. So that's another one complete .

Well I need some lunch and a coffee as not eaten yet.

Hope everyone else looking in is ok.

Florence in the hebrides

Quite warm and sunny here and I have spent an hour in the garden weeding and cutting back a few things ready for the brown bin men this week. On Thursday at the garden centre I bought 6 Primulas in a back reduced to £1.99 They are all in flower although a bit leggy but they brighten up a dark corner and they might take for next year. Their root system was not brilliant but £1.99 I can afford to lose.

Glad that you are OK Joan although you will be finding the winter is not helping your mood. These first months are hard, and you don't need problems not of your making to pull you down. Good that your son is going to sort out RM. They should have a bereavement department to deal with.

Linda, I can't say that I envy you all the upheaval but I am sure it will be worth it in the end. Hopefully things will move forward at speed.

Florence hope you got your washing dry and that it didn't blow away. There is absolutely no wind here at all today, it is really spring like. Sad that it is not going to last.

Ginny these on line shops seem to come round really quickly don't they. Always something to add to them though.

Not looking forward to Tuesday this week. I have to go to Cheltenham hospital to the medical photography suite. I have the beginnings of a basal cell carcinoma on my nose so I have to see the photographer before seeing the consultant. I know what it is as I have had almost 20 more previously over the last 20 years or so. But have never had one in such a worrying place as outside of my nostril. Although I believe it is a very common place to get them. I don't like to think about the effects of the op to remove it, not going to be a pretty sight. Anyway I usually go to Glos royal hospital so Cheltenham is different and harder to get to. I have to go by bus into Glos bus station and then catch the hospital bus, so a new experience. Appointment is at 15.15 so I need to leave home at 1300. If going by car ir would take half an hour tops.

Relieved to know you're OK, Joan - though obviously it's a difficult time for you.

After my husband died, I found a whole drawerful of assorted batteries in the shed, large numbers of screwdrivers, and lots of other stuff, too much to mention here.
And of course, all the little tins and jars of old screws, etc.

I hope your son manages to give RM a good kick in the right direction. You don't need money worries on top of everything else.

Dry and sunny here today - and even some warmth in the sunshine. Lovely!

Hello to everyone.
First of all I am sorry for not coming back to the thread sooner, I have been deseperate to get back & chat to everyone but I have been really struggling with the loss of my husband Jack, I am finding it all really difficult to deal with particularly at night.
I don't like the long dark nights at the best of times but at the moment I am finding the nights very difficult to deal with, I am having a big problem with not being able to sleep, & when I do manage to drop off it's just snatches here & there.

With the help of our eldest son & eldest daughter I have managed to get the various paperwork in order apart from one company !
Jack had a private pension with the Royal Mail (he was a Postie for over 25 yrs) & trying to speak to someone at RM about his death etc has not been easy.

At first no-one would talk to us & said because there is no will we needed the courts permission to make a claim on the pension, (hat turned out to be untrue!, ( the estate isn't big enough) After several days passed our eldest son eventually managed to speak to someone about the situation& pointing out that RM were still putting the full pension money into the bank !

He was told that a bereavement pack would be sent out to me & I would have to fill in the relavant forms & send them back along with the original death certificate before any alterations to the pension could be made & in the mean time.pension money would cease.

That was almost 2 weeks ago & still NO forms have been sent, not only that the FULL pension is STILL being paid into the bank !!
I dare not touch it as I am not entitled to the full amount & likely as not I will have to pay back any over payment.
It's causing me untold worry as I only have my own State Pension to live on at the moment,( my savings went on the funeral costs) my hubby always told me I would be ok should anything happen to him, as I would be entitled to 1/2 his Post Office pension & all I had to do was contact RM pensions & they would sort it all out.

My son is going to phone them again tomorrow & I don't envy the person on the other end of the phone !!

I am trying hard to keep myself busy with things in the house, & have spent much of the time cleaning out drawers & cupboards, hubby was a bit of a hoader & never really threw anything away !
I have lost count of all the little things that I have come acrosss this past 2 weeks, several small baccy tins concealing soo many old screws, nuts & bolts & old batteries, you wouldn't believe what I have come across on my clear out !

Some things I have kept as they meant a lot to Jack & though not much use to me I have known them for so many years & they were part of him & I can't bear to part with them'
..............................................................................................

On a different note, the weather has been reasonable here, several sunny days, with rain holding off until the night time, but it has been really cold which has stopped me getting outside.
I bought a few Primroses recently, & have managed to get them into the flowers borders without freezing my socks off, I still have several lots of branches to clear away but it will have to warm up somewhat before I can do that job.

We had snow yesterday & I thought the daffies would be damaged but fortunately, though it was a heavy shower it didn't last too long, it happens every year, just as the Daffies are about to bloom we get snow !
....................................................................................

Linda... so happy for you that you have moved into your new home, you are still being kept as busy as ever with the various jobs needing to be done in the house, I really hope all will go to plan & that youu will get things sorted quickly.

I hope all is well with everyone on the thread, take care of yourselves, & THANKYOU once agian for thinking & asking after me..

Joan.

Morning everyone.
Oh my Linda, its not easy is it? Hoping your painter gets done fairly swiftly. But at least you have 1 cosy room you can use.

Its amazing re the addresses when you think its all sorted and then.... it still presents problems. Glad you got it sorted swiftly though.

Have you not arranged with the PO to redirect for a year? I did it and it worked so well, cost around £60 if i can remember? But it was worth every penny. If you haven't done so already. maybe worth it and then at least you will get all your mail & parcels etc.

Sunny day but when I popped out to the bin, my golly it was cold and a chilly breeze too so didn't spend any longer than I needed to outside!

Admiring all my plants growing on the windowsill. The geraniums seem to be growing by the hour!! They will soon need repotting into a larger pot.

Linda, I'm thinking maybe Joan just has had a lot of things to deal with recently and maybe isn't up to posting? Here's hoping she will be back soon and hope she isn't ill or something.

Nothing special on today so pottering around tidying up etc. Might throw out some washing as its dry & windy, save the tumble drier lol

Have a good day all
Florence in the hebrides

I wish that my house would soon be as I want it Ginnie, but it is one step forward and one step back.
The builder is doing very well with the ceilings, he only has the main bedroom, en-suite, hall, landing , kitchen and utility room to do. We have to give up the main bedroom tomorrow which I am not looking forward to. It is the only room in the house which is cosy and warm. We have a tv in it, so as soon as we have finished dinner, we have been going upstairs and using it as a cosy lounge for the evening.

The real lounge has the fireplace ripped out, I had hoped they would put the new one in this week, but they are too busy and it is going to be a week tomorrow :-(. to make it worse OH has started taking the skirting boards off in preparation for when the wood floor goes in. That means there is just raggy looking concrete on the bottom of the walls :-(

I had to go back to the old house yesterday to collect two parcels. I had ordered several batches of blinds and a few days later some curtains.. I payed using PayPal as I normally do. I had changed my address on both PayPal and on the credit card which pays PayPal, but it was only when I ordered the curtains that I noticed that PayPal was dispatching everything to my old address. I thought that I had messed up the address change, but when I checked, I hadn’t. I googled it and it seems to be a recognised problem when if you have dealt with a company before and they have your details in their system, PayPal will revert to that old address . I had to ring Pay Pal up and they removed all traces of the old address from their system. To be fair to them, someone in America answered on the first ring, unlike most of the UK websites where I am on hold listening to canned musak for ages. Most of the orders hadn’t been dispatched yet, so the company altered the delivery address, but two blinds had already gone to the delivery company. They did try to get them diverted, but it didn’t work, so I had to go and collect them. It was a good job it was only half an hour up the road and not a long distance move.

I hope Joan is alright as she hasn’t been posting